Newsdesk

Kew Gardens 10K 2020

Kew Gardens 10K 'bucks' the trend with double-header

It's Richmond RUNFEST, but not as we know it!

Entries will close for the one-of-a-kind findarace.com Kew Gardens 10K this Thursday 3 September, so this is your very last chance to be part of this unique double-header, held entirely within the world-famous Royal Botanic Gardens.

After last year’s Richmond RUNFEST, race director Tom Bedford confidently declared to his organising staff: “Next year’s event will not see any changes for the first time in 7 years!”. Of course, that was before COVID-19 decided to change the world for everyone, perhaps forever.

With most of the normal weekend programme having to be postponed, the operations team set out to consult the best-known health and safety and crowd flow analysts in the world to make sure the venue and the 10K course could cope with runners in a socially-distanced format.

Tom invited Marcel Altenburg of Manchester Met University to review the event and highlight any red flags for the runners on the course. Marcel’s technology used last year’s results to analyse changes to the course for this year’s event so there is a safe number of runners attending. 

The result is a weekend format with two identical, socially-distanced 10K events, held inside beautiful Kew Gardens on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September. Public entry for Saturday has sold out, with only a few charity places left. Registration for Sunday closes on Thursday unless sold out sooner. 

Tom explained: “We are very fortunate that our venue, Kew Gardens, is one of the most secluded, beautiful and secure venues in London. Therefore we had an opportunity to only invite runners inside, which is something that events like London Marathon would find it difficult to do. This was really helpful and gave us the confidence that, together with all of the other changes given by our governing body UK Athletics and the government, we could put on a safe event for everyone turning up”.

In a final note of reassurance, Tom added: “COVID-19 is not behind us yet but if we can put on safe running events that positively impact the health and fitness, mental well-being for many runners and also supports many charities then it’s our duty to get back running. All staff and volunteers will wear protective safety gear and our event naturally lends itself to responsible track and tracing. It is not how we normally put on events but it’s a safe start!"

All finishers at Kew Gardens 10K will receive the one-off 'BEAT THE KEW' drawstring sports bag containing a rainbow medal, 'BADASS BUCK' buff, KIND protein bar, Lucozade Sport and water. Race fee also includes free entry (usually £17) for family/friends to Kew Gardens from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm.  

Race and entry details at Richmond RUNFEST website here

Image courtesy Richmond RUNFEST

Previous & Next News

top